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DECISION No

DECISION No. 120/1999/QD-TTg OF MAY 7, 1999 RATIFYING THE PROJECT ON CASHEW DEVELOPMENT TILL THE YEAR 2010

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

At the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To ratify the project for cashew development till the year 2010 with the following major contents:

1. Orientation and target:

- Developing cashew aims to exploit the advantages of the cashew which is of food value, yields timber, is easy to grow, costs little investment, stands drought and poor soil conditions and is suitable to poor people, and to satisfy the demand of the domestic market and export with the output of over 100,000 tons of cashew nut a year;

- To develop cashew in areas where land conditions permit, with development priority given to the coastal provinces of Central Vietnam, the low-lying regions of the Central Highlands provinces; to combine the improvement of existing cashew gardens through intensive farming and the new cultivation;

- To increase income and create jobs (in agricultural production and processing industry), particularly for poor regions and poor households.

2. Solutions:

a) Orientation for production zone planning: On the basis of the existing land funds in localities, first of all in coastal provinces of Central Vietnam, the low- lying regions of the Central Highlands provinces, to mark off land areas for cashew cultivation along the direction of exploiting the advantages of each region for cashew cultivation in headwater protection or coastal areas.

- To combine new cultivation with the improvement of existing cashew gardens with good-quality and high-yield strains, step by step formulating the concentrated and intensively farmed cashew regions;

- To grow cashew in protection areas for nuts and at the same time for the protection of headwater and coastal regions as well as the ecological environment.

b) Markets: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and concerned ministries and branches continue to maintain and expand the existing markets in the United States, China while looking for new outlets.

On the basis of the capacity of the cashew processing establishments and the existing cashew output, if necessary, to import raw cashew nuts for processing establishments in order to make the fullest use of their capacity and create jobs for people. The Ministry of Trade shall create favorable conditions for establishments to import raw cashew nuts and coordinate with Vietnam Cashew Union in setting the price of imported raw cashew nuts so as not to affect the interests of enterprises and the cashew growers.

c) Regarding strains: There should be good and high-yield strains suitable to the ecological conditions of different regions so as to replace the existing low-yield strains along the direction of selecting good seeds from the existing cashew and importing good seeds in order to create strains for new cultivation and the improvement of the existing low-yield cashew gardens. To strive to achieve by the year 2000 that the entire cashew area throughout the country is cultivated with good strains of the first generation.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall direct the Southern Agronomy Institute, the Vietnam Agronomy Institute, the Central Highlands Forestry and Agronomy Institute and scientific research establishments to build in each of the regions of Eastern South Vietnam, central coast and the Central Highlands a first-generation cashew nursery to supply enough first-generation strains for localities, enterprises and people, that will create good strains through hybridization or grafting to supply for cashew growers at reasonable prices. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall allocate investment capital for establishments that produce first-generation strains.

d) Regarding prices: To set reasonable purchase prices so as to ensure the interests of the cashew growers. To assign the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces where cashew is grown to announce, after consulting the Government Pricing Committee, the minimum price for the purchase of raw cashew nuts right at the beginning of the harvest, in order to guide processing establishments in the purchase of raw cashew nuts.

e) Regarding tax: The Ministry of Finance shall study and decide the tax exemption and reduction for cashew processing establishments and cashew growers, particularly for poor regions confronting numerous difficulties, in order to promote the development of cashew.

f) Regarding investment and credit:

- Cashew cultivation in land areas planned for protection forests may enjoy the application of the policy of supporting the planting of protection forests stated in Decision No. 661/QD-TTg of July 29, 1998 of the Prime Minister on the objectives, tasks, policy and implementation of the project on planting 5 million hectares of forests; the level of support is 2.5 million VN dong/ha channeled from the source of capital for annual planting of protection forests, and the rest shall be invested by the cashew growers themselves from ordinary borrowed capital.

- Mobilizing every other source of capital for cashew development, including:

+ The State budget capital for investment in: scientific and technological research; creation of first-generation strains; agricultural promotion, transfer of technical progress on cashew;

+ Credit capital for investment as planned: allocated to projects on technological renewal, upgrading and procurement of processing equipment;

+ Bank credit capital: meeting the cashew growers� demand for capital;

+ Capital from the job-generating program as well as from the Bank for the Poor.

g) Encouraging all economic sectors to develop cashew, particularly in form of farm economy and with investment in cashew growing and processing.

h) Regarding science, technology and environment.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall consider the formation of cashew research sections in the Vietnam Agronomy Institute, the Southern Agronomy Institute and the Central Highlands Forestry and Agronomy Institute in order to study the physiological and biochemical characters of cashew, cashew disease prevention, cashew farming techniques and processing in better service of cashew development; and work out plans for training of technical and managerial cadres, including overseas training, so as to have a contingent of well- trained and qualified experts on cashew.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 3.- The ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development; Planning and Investment; Finance; as well as Science, Technology and Environment; the Governor of Vietnam State Bank, the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces where cashew is grown and the heads of the concerned agencies shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

NGUYEN CONG TAN